Riley Jenson Guardian series
The Riley Jenson Guardian series by Keri Arthur. The companion series is Dark Angels series, set in the same world. Genres and Sub-Genres Adult Urban Fantasy / Romantic Urban Fantasy / Alternate History Series Description A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne’s Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races–and protect humans from their depredations. While Rhoan is an exalted guardian, a.k.a. assassin, Riley is merely an office worker–until her brother goes missing on one of his missions. The timing couldn’t be worse. More werewolf than vampire, Riley is vulnerable to the moon heat, the weeklong period before the full moon, when her need to mate becomes all-consuming. Luckily Riley has two willing partners to satisfy her every need. But she will have to control her urges if she’s going to find her brother….Easier said than done as the city pulses with frenzied desire, and Riley is confronted with a very powerful vamp who raises her temperature like never before. In matters criminal, she must follow her instincts not only to find her brother but to stop an unholy harvest. For someone is doing some shifty cloning in an attempt to produce the ultimate warrior–by tapping into the genome of nonhumans like Rhoan. Now Riley knows just how dangerous the world is for her kind–and just how much it needs her. ~ Dark Urban Fantasy Lead's Species *Werepire — Were / Vampire hybrid, Pararnoral Military/Detective/Cop Primary Supe *Weres and Vampires (equal billing) What Sets it Apart *Protagonist is half werewolf and half vampire—and so is her twin brother, both from birth. This combination is rare in this world. Narrative Type and Narrators *First Person narrative told by Riley Jensen, protagonist. Books in Series Riley Jenson Guardian series: # Full Moon Rising (2005) # Kissing Sin (2007) # Tempting Evil (2007) # Dangerous Games (2007) # Embraced By Darkness (2007) # The Darkest Kiss (2008) # Deadly Desire (2009) # Bound to Shadows (2009) # Moon Sworn (2010) ~ Final (see Dark Angels series) —NOTE: This series has ended though some of the characters have moved to the companion series. Shorts, Anthologies and Guides * 3.5. "Dreams" in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance (2008) ~ Anthology (Quinn PoV) * Freebie: Quinn and Riley Short story (pdf) Companion Series, Spinoffs, Sequels or Prequels *Dark Angels series Other Series by Keri Arthur onsite * Dark Angels series * Souls of Fire Series * Harri Phillecki, P.I. series * Spook Squad series * Damask Circle series * Nikki and Michael series * Ripple Creek series (werewolves) * Myth and Magic series (PNR dragon shifters) World Building Setting Melbourne, Australia—sometime in the near future, a slightly alternate Melbourne. Places: * Moneisha Research Center (#1) * Blue Moon (#1) — werewolf club * Vinnie’s (#1): human and nonhumans club * Sydney, Australia (#1) * Singsang (#1) * Ireland (#1) * England (#5) * Fravardin (#3) * Bon Dieu (#4) * Beechworth (#6) * Rye (#7) * Dunedan (#9) * Perth (#9) * St. Kilda (#9) * Melton (#9) * Brisbane (#9) * Grampian Mountains: Kade's final resting place. (#9) * Mt. Martha: a well-to-do suburb down on the peninsula that catered primarily to families. Supernatural Elements ✥ Vampires, werewolves, dhampire, Aedh, psychic, clones, stallion shifter, enhanced humans, bird-shifters, supernatural espionage, cloning, archaic dark god, three-headed dragon ("Death"), Glossary: * Dhampir: half vampire half something else (most commonly human), in this case it's half werewolf. * Guardians: no-holds-barred law enforcement officersfor the Directorate; handle gone-bad werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, etc—threats that the human police force simply cannot handle. * Moon Fever: an intense sexual need, that each werewolf experience in the week leading up the full moon * Aedh: A being who can become shadow and mist—magical, non-human race of energy beings who can take human form but do not have any human emotions. They have wings, and they can desolidify into transparent beings that can travel long distances in a short period of time. They can also read mortal minds and walk the gray fields (realm between the mortal world and the afterlife). ~ Fang-tastic 'Groups & Organizations': * Directorate of Other Races: a government agency tasked with policing the supernatural community * Toorak Trollops: group of high-society women who date only the wealthy and powerful men who can give them the most; part of a case; * Revanche: World ✥ Set in an alternate, mildly futuristic Melbourne, Australia. In this world, the supernatural community is kept under control by the Directorate, which operates like an amped-up police force with its staff of psychics, witches, and lethal hunters. In addition to the Directorate, Melbourne has a Vampire Council that governs its own species, sometimes in accordance with the Directorate, but sometimes not. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction ✥ In this world werewolves are highly sensual and sexually driven creatures. The wolf component of Riley's psyche and the guilt-free werewolf culture makes her liaisons refreshing and sizzling. But it also causes many problems for Riley. ~ SciFiGuy ✥ Natural hybrids such as Riley and her twin brother Rhoan are very rare, even in a world with such a variety of Other Races as this. Genetic science provides much of the intrigue. In the week before a full moon, werewolves are seized by a progressively uncontrollable urge to mate. Werewolf society is built around this fact. ~ Tabula Rasa Protagonist ✯ Riley Jensen is a dhampire—half/vampire and half/werewolf. Thrown out of her mother's pack with her twin brother for being half breeds. Riley and Rhoan work for Melbourne's Directorate of Other Races: an organization created to police the supernatural races and protect humans from the dangers they can create. Riley will only become monogamous when she finds her life mate and until then she is vulnerable to moon-heat, when her sexuality demands partners, and often many of them. Not that Riley suffers through this. In fact she embraces this side of her nature and it is this aspect of the books that is the most confronting. Once you accept that her sexuality reflects the tension between the vampire and werewolf societies and that just as Riley must accept her own nature this is the challenge of those around her then this aspect of the books becomes more understandable. The stories are an emotional journey as much as they are thillers and for readers who appreciate a thought provoking challenge, rather than just some light reading, this is a terrific series. ~ Riley Jenson Review - Fang Books ✯ With each book, Riley learns new things about herself, some pleasant, some she finds uncomfortable and hard to reconcile, some cut against the grain of who she thought she was. She is a strong, compelling character, who is equal parts cynic and romantic dreamer. She has been put through the paces repeatedly, enduring circumstances that would have obliterated a weak, one-dimensional character. She is truly spirited and resilient... ~ Vampire Romance Book Cover Blurbs ❖ BOOK ONE—Full Moon Rising (2005): Risa Jones is as extraordinary as her heritage. Born from a lab-enhanced clone mother and an Aedh father, she can not only talk to the souls of the dying and the dead, but she can see the reapers and walk the gray fields that divide this world from the next. They are skill she rarely uses, however, preferring to concentrate on the business she shares with her two best friends. But when her mother asks her to help the parents of a little girl locked in a coma, she reluctantly agrees. What she discovers scares the hell out of her. Because the little girl’s soul no longer resides in her body, and it wasn’t death and the reapers that took her. Someone had ripped her soul from her flesh. As it turns out, a creature consuming the souls of the innocent–and not so innocent–is the least of her problems. Because someone wants to rip open the gates that divided hell from earth, and Risa is a key component in their plans. And the only person standing between her and disaster is a reaper who isn’t exactly on her side. ~ Goodreads ✤ BOOK TWO—Kissing Sin (2007): From Melbourne’s gleaming skyscrapers to its throbbing nightclubs, Riley Jenson’s world is raging with danger and desire. A drop-dead-gorgeous werewolf-with a touch of vamp coursing in her blood-Riley works for an organization created to police the supernatural races. But when she wakes up naked and bruised in a barren alley, she knows only that she must run for her life. Within moments Riley collides with the sexiest man she’s ever seen: steely, seductive Kade, who is fighting a life-and-death battle of his own. With old lovers and enemies gathering around her, Riley knows she is being pursued by a new kind of criminal. Because in Riley’s blood is a secret that could create the ultimate warrior-if only she can survive her own dangerous desires ~ Goodreads | Kissing Sin (Riley Jenson Guardian #2) by Keri Arthur ✤ BOOK THREE—Tempting Evil (2007): In a world of sorcery and seduction, the nights bring out the beautiful, the damned, and the desired. Here, Riley Jenson is on her own-half werewolf, half vampire, working for an organization created to police the supernatural races. Trusting her superiors and lovers barely more than she trusts her worst enemies, Riley plays by her own set of rules. Her latest mission: to enter the heavily guarded pleasure palace of a criminal named Deshon Starr-a madman-scientist who’s been messing around in the gene pool for decades. With two sexy men-a cool, seductive vampire and an irresistibly hot wolf-vying for her attention, Riley must keep focused. Because saving the world from Deshon Starr will mean saving herself-from the trap that’s closing in around her… ~ Goodreads | Tempting Evil (Riley Jenson Guardian #3) by Keri Arthur ✤ BOOK FOUR—Dangerous Games (2007): In Melbourne’s urban underworld, there’s a nightclub for every fantasy and desire. But for Riley Jenson, one such club has become an obsession. Riley, a rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, hasn’t come in pursuit of pleasure but of an unknown killer who’s been using the steamy nightspot as his hunting grounds. Leave it to Riley to find the only ticket into the heavily guarded club: Jin, a deliciously hot-bodied bartender who might just provide the key to unmasking a killer unlike any other in the Directorate’s experience. Taunted by a former colleague turned rogue, distracted by an ex-lover’s attentions, Riley follows Jin into a realm of pleasure she could never have imagined. And as danger and passion ignite, a shocking mystery begins to unravel—one where Riley herself becomes the ultimate object of desire. ~ Goodreads | Dangerous Games (Riley Jenson Guardian #4) by Keri Arthur ✤ BOOK FIVE—Embraced By Darkness (2007): She's hunting a killer—and shattering every boundary—she's ever known.… Part vamp, part werewolf, Riley Jenson plays by her own rules, whether it’s her stormy love life or her job as a guardian. But when her family’s alpha male demands that she solve the mystery of a vanished girl, Riley can feel a trap closing in around her. Because the job comes with a catch: if Riley fails, her own mother will die. Now the stakes are raised, the hunt is on...and when more women vanish, Riley is caught between a lover who demands that she give up her work, a serial killer who knows no boundaries, and a club where humans and supernaturals mix—at their own peril. Thrust into a realm of seduction and violence unlike any she could have imagined, Riley has to battle to save everything she holds dear. But the ultimate hunt has only just begun.... ~ Goodreads | Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian #5) by Keri Arthur ✤ BOOK SIX—The Darkest Kiss (2008): Danger turns her on. Desire turns her dangerous... Riley Jenson hunts evildoers- and does it with a style all her own. With vamp blood coursing her through her veins, and a werewolf's uncanny instinct for danger, Riley wears snakeskin stilettos and pure, in-your-face attitude when she plunges into her latest case: hunting down a killer whose victims are high-society strumpets- and the rich and powerful men they've dated. But for Riley, the case takes a chilling turn when a second killer starts trailing mutilated bodies of his own: a crazed young vamp choosing victims from a past marked by tragedy. Riley knows she's got the skill and cunning to catch two serial killers at once... until one of them strikes inside her own tight-knit clan and a sexy beast of a vampire reenters her life to aid in the hunt. His name is Quinn. He's lived forever, shed blood, and shared pleasure... and he's the only man over whom Riley has absolutely no control... ~ Goodreads | The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian #6) by Keri Arthur ✤ BOOK SEVEN—Deadly Desire (2009): Seduction that kills. Pleasure to die for. She just can't resist.... Guardian Riley Jensen always seems to face the worst villains. And this time's no different. For it's no ordinary sorceress who can raise the dead to do her killing. But that's exactly what Riley expects to find at the end of a trail of female corpses used—and discarded—in a bizarre ritual of evil. With pressure mounting to catch one fiend, another series of brutal slayings shocks the vampire world of her lover, Quinn. So the last thing Riley needs is the heat of the upcoming full moon bringing her werewolf hormones to a boil---or the reappearance of a sexy bounty hunter, the rogue wolf Kye Murphy. Riley has threatened Murphy with arrest if he doesn't back off the investigation, but it's Riley who feels handcuffed by Kye's lupine charm. Torn between her vamp and wolf natures, between her love for Quinn and her hots for Kye, Riley knows she's courting danger and indulging the deadliest desires. For her hunt through the supernatural underworld will bring her face-to-face with what lurks in a darkness - where even monsters fear to tread. ~ Goodreads | Deadly Desire (Riley Jenson Guardian #7) by Keri Arthur ✤ BOOK EIGHT—Bound to Shadows (2009): In the darkness, demons come out to play . . . and someone must bring their sins to light. Part vampire, part werewolf, Riley Jenson knows what can happen when vamps don't play well with others. But she's never seen anything like this: a series of brutal murders surrounding the latest hot spot for vampire-human hookups—and the victims aren't just killed, they're beheaded. Now Riley is launching into action, toying with a seductive—and highly suspicious—club owner, and finding herself in the middle of another mystery: women being killed one by one without a trace of violence. For Riley, solving multiple cases—in a world going mad with human and vampire passions—would have been tough enough. Instead, she has two jealous lovers on her hands: Kye Murphy, the amber-eyed werewolf who makes Riley's wolf blood howl—and Quinn, the cool, elegant vamp who has over a thousand years' experience at fulfilling women's desires. While she's busy juggling these two sexy beasts, Riley's detective work takes a stunningly violent turn. Finding a murderer is now a matter of life and death. Especially since the killer has long since found her. ~ Goodreads | Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson Guardian, #8) by Keri Arthur ✤ BOOK NINE—Moon Sworn (2010): Some nights never end.Some desires never die. . . . Shape-shifting werewolf and vampire Riley Jenson is through with death--causing it, solving it, surviving it. Her soul mate, Kye Murphy, is dead--and at Riley's own hands. Not even the seductive embrace of her vampire lover, Quinn, can fully ease her mind, for she has begun questioning everything that makes her Riley—including her job at the Directorate. Now, the ritualistically slain bodies of ex-cons have started turning up. Reluctantly, Riley takes the case, but something even worse is waiting in the wings. A vicious enemy from her past is determined to strip Riley of everything that gives her life any meaning: her lover, her brother—and even her own identity. Can Riley survive this ultimate assault? All she knows is, she must fight one last time to find answers, before everything goes dark forever. ~ Goodreads | Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson Guardian, #9) by Keri Arthur Category:Series